Christa Speck (August 1, 1942 – March 22, 2013) was a German model and actress.
She was chosen as ''
Playboy'' magazine's
Playmate of the Month
A Playmate is a female model featured in the centerfold/gatefold of ''Playboy'' magazine as Playmate of the Month (PMOTM). The PMOTM's pictorial includes nude photographs and a centerfold poster, along with a pictorial biography and the "Playm ...
for the September 1961 issue, and as the
1962 Playmate of the Year. Her original pictorial was photographed by
Sam Wu
Samuel Wu (February 19, 1919 – August 19, 2005) was an American photographer of the 1950s and 1960s.
Wu worked for adult magazines such as ''Playboy'' and ''Modern Man''. He photographed ''Playboy'' centerfolds of Rusty Fisher, Pat Sheeha ...
.
Career and media appearances
Speck was working as a bank secretary at
Bank of America when she was discovered by Playboy.
She was chosen as ''
Playboy'' magazine's
Playmate of the Month
A Playmate is a female model featured in the centerfold/gatefold of ''Playboy'' magazine as Playmate of the Month (PMOTM). The PMOTM's pictorial includes nude photographs and a centerfold poster, along with a pictorial biography and the "Playm ...
for the September 1961 issue, and as the
1962 Playmate of the Year, the first foreign-born model to be so named.
[ She worked as a Bunny in the company's Chicago nightclub, lived in the Playboy Mansion and was featured in all of the magazine's 60s pictorials about life at Mansion: 1961's ''Playmate Holiday House Party'', 1963's ''Playmate Pillow Fight and Bunnies'' and 1966's ''The Playboy Mansion''. Speck was selected by Playboy editors and readers as one of their "ten favorite Playmates from the magazine’s first decade."][
Her centerfold is seen in the 1978 film '' Animal House'', which takes place in 1962. Speck is mentioned in the 2007 book ''Confessions of a Crabgrass Cowboy: From Lincoln Logs to Lava Lamps: Coming of Age in an Early American Suburb'' by William Schwarz. She is also mentioned briefly in the 2011 book ''The Bunny Years'' by fellow, former Bunny Kathryn Leigh Scott.
]
Personal life
Speck was born in Danzig, Germany (now Gdańsk
Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...
, Poland).
She was later married to children's programming producer Marty Krofft. Speck and Krofft had three daughters.
Death
Speck died of natural causes at her home in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 70.[
]
See also
* List of people in Playboy 1960–1969
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Speck, Christa
1960s Playboy Playmates
Playboy Playmates of the Year
1942 births
2013 deaths
Actresses from Gdańsk
People from West Prussia
German emigrants to the United States